Backdown on bus lanes

Auckland City Council has hit the brakes on bus lanes. It says it will now treat motorists more leniently and fairly and will push lawmakers to cut the $150 fines nearly in half.The backdown follows a Herald campaign over flaws...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

Bike medics ready for viaduct shutdown

Motorbike medics will be on standby during this weekend's Auckland motorway closure to deal with emergencies in and around the city.The St John motorbike squad in Auckland - made up of four members - will be ready to head to an...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

Bus lane signs being ignored, study suggests

Drivers straying into Auckland City bus lanes have taken little notice of signs showing where they can lawfully enter the lanes to turn left, says a council-commissioned research project.They were deterred only by the sight of...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

Three on run after bank raid

Police were last night hunting three men who robbed a West Auckland bank at gunpoint of what is believed to be thousands of dollars.Officers were called to the ASB Bank at the Westgate Shopping Centre in Massey shortly before...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

Buses keep priority lanes

Buses are to retain supremacy over Dominion Rd for now, after transport chiefs backed away from letting general vehicles into its bus priority lanes. But Auckland City Council's transport committee has rejected a proposal to extend...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

An Australian chronicle revisited

The work of a brilliant but ill-disciplined German explorer is about to find a new audience, writes Steve Meacham.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Wilkie rejects $1b sweetener

JULIA GILLARD is two seats away from forming a minority government after the Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie rejected a $1 billion offer from Tony Abbott and threw his support behind Labor.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Australia's Gillard inches closer to power (Reuters)

Reuters - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard inched closer to a return to power on Thursday after one of four independent lawmakers holding the balance of power threw his support behind her Labor Party.
Read more [Yahoo World News]

Key Australian lawmaker backs Labor to govern (AP)

AP - Prime Minister Julia Gillard edged closer to retaining power in Australia on Thursday when an independent lawmaker said he would support her center-left Labor Party to form Australia's first minority government in almost seven decades.
Read more [Yahoo World News]

Video: Australian independent backs Labor minority government

MP Andrew Wilkie comes out in support of prime minister Julia Gillard

Leaders agree to increase Tas parliament

The leaders of Labor, the Liberals and the Greens have signed an agreement to increase the size of Tasmanian parliament, Premier David Bartlett says.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Australian PM wins key backer in bid for power (AFP)

AFP - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard won the support of a key independent MP on Thursday, leaving her close to breaking the worst political deadlock in decades after elections failed to produce a winner.

Wilkie move a 'double win' for Tas

independent Andrew Wilkie's decision to back Labor to form a minority government is a "double win" for Tasmania, Premier David Bartlett says.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Australian school drops 'gay' from Kookaburra song

Headteacher says he only substituted word 'fun' into Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree to stop pupils sniggering

An Australian school headteacher has asked students to stop using the word "gay" when singing a classic children's song, but today said no offence was intended – he was simply trying to keep the children from laughing.

Garry Martin of Le Page primary school, in Melbourne, said he instructed students to substitute the line "Fun your life must be" for the original "Gay your life must be" when singing Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree. The song about a native Australian bird is a favourite around campfires.

Martin said he was playing a recording of the song for the students about a month ago when the line "gay your life must be" produced a flurry of giggles throughout the classroom.

Some of the students use the word "gay" as a schoolyard taunt, he said, but don't understand its true meaning. And so, to calm them down, he told them to swap in the word "fun" for "gay".

"It wasn't misplaced political correctness, it wasn't homophobia, there was nothing really calculated in doing it," he said.

"I could've stopped the whole class and gone into a very caring, supportive explanation of gay being quite a reasonable choice in lifestyle that some people make, but I was only talking with seven and eight year olds, and I think that sort of thing is better explained more fully with parents."

His decision erupted into controversy, he said, after one of the students told his parents about Martin's change to the song. Word then spread from the parents to friends to the local newspaper, which ran a story – and Martin found himself being bombarded with angry emails.

"Some think I'm the devil incarnate," he said.

Crusader Hillis, CEO of the gay and lesbian advocacy group The Also Foundation, did not go that far – but he did call the lyrical swap an overreaction.

"It sends a signal to people that just because a word has two meanings, that one of those meanings is unacceptable and that's really putting us backwards," Hillis said.

"Even if it's done for good intentions because 'gay' is being used in schoolyards as a slur, I think they need to use the word as a conversation rather than banning it."

Martin said his decision was a mistake made with the best of intentions, and he plans to speak to the students about how different words hold different meanings across generations.

He also plans to ask students to sing the original version of the song. But, he added: "We might not sing it that often now."

• Australia
• Schools

Wilkie gives Labor the edge it needed

Labor has edged closer to forming the next federal government, with Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie's support.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Auckland beaches' sea slug warning

People are being warned to look out for toxic sea slugs on all beaches in the Auckland region, after one was found on the shores of the Manukau Harbour.A sea slug was found on Cornwallis Beach this week, it's currently being tested...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

Australian independent backs Labor minority government

Julia Gillard could return to power after one of four independent MPs holding key to next government announces support

The Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, today edged closer to retaining power when an independent MP said he would back her centre-left Labor party to form the country's first minority government in almost seven decades.

The remaining three independents will now decide whether Labor governs for a second three-year term or a conservative Liberal party-led coalition forms the next administration after the 21 August elections failed to deliver a majority for any party.

The conservative coalition needs the backing of all three independents to reach a 76-seat majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives, while Labor needs only two.

Independent Andrew Wilkie, who has negotiated separately from the other three, announced his backing for Labor at Parliament House after meetings with Gillard and the Liberal leader, Tony Abbott.

"I have judged that it is in fact the ALP [Labor] that best meets my criteria that the next government must be stable, must be competent and must be ethical," he told reporters.

Wilkie said he expected his fellow independents would be more likely to support Labor after figures showed the coalition had overstated savings from their election promises by billions of dollars.

Abbott said the coalition had the best economic credentials to govern despite the figures, which were released by the independents yesterday.

Senior Liberal MPs have stuck by their figures and explained that the discrepancies with official calculations by government ministries were "a difference of opinion" on methodology and underlying assumptions such as future interest rates.

Abbott said the discrepancies did not compromise his negotiations with the three independents.

"There are a whole lot of issues in play here and an, at times, arcane argument about costings is by no means the most important," Abbott said. "The bottom line is that there are two competing economic records here."

He said that Labor had inherited $A60bn (£35bn) in assets when it was elected in 2007, which it turned into a $90bn debt through economic stimulus spending.

The three independents had requested briefings from treasury and finance ministry bureaucrats on confidential estimates of competing election pledges.

They said the questions of which party had the best economic blueprint, and which might have misled voters, were key factors in deciding whether to back a Liberal-led coalition or a Labor government.

The independents released treasury documents contradicting Abbott's claim that Australia's bottom line would be $A11.5bn better under the conservative coalition in three years, when both sides of the political divide have promised to return the budget to surplus.

The Treasury found the improvement could be as little as $A900m.

• Australia
• Julia Gillard

Leaders agree to increase parlt

The leaders of Labor, the Liberals and the Greens have signed an agreement to increase the size of Tasmanian parliament, Premier David Bartlett says.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Wilkie sides with Labor

Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie says he will back a Labor minority government.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Manhunt after Armourguard hold-up

Armed robbers are believed to have got away with thousands of dollars after holding up an Armourguard security van outside an ASB bank at the Westgate Shopping Centre in west Auckland this afternoon.The men looted the van just...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

Last-minute efforts to avert strike fails

Eleventh hour talks aimed at averting a nationwide strike by radiographers next week appear to have failed.Representatives of the country's district health boards (DHBs) met with the radiographers' union Apex in Auckland today...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

Repeat drink-driver jailed over fatal crash

A recidivist drink driver was today jailed for four years for killing a Northland mother while driving with nearly double the legal alcohol limit.Warren John Jenkins, 49, of Orewa, north of Auckland, admitted driving with excess...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

Council backtracks on bus lane enforcement

After a backlash over its overzealous issuing of bus lane fines, Auckland City Council has today announced a number of new initiatives "to ensure a fair and reasonable approach" to bus lane enforcement. The
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

Department unfazed by senator's taxi bill

The Federal Department of Finance says a Tasmanian senator's three-hour taxi ride would have cost the same as a Commonwealth fleet car trip.
Read more [ABC News Australia]

Sydney confident striker will be ready

Sydney FC are confident that new striker Brazilian Bruno Cazarine will be ready for Saturday night's Hyundai A-League clash with table-topping Adelaide United.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Australian school drops 'gay' from classic song (AP)

AP - An Australian school principal has asked students to stop using the word "gay" when singing a classic children's song, but said Thursday no offense was intended — he was simply trying to keep the kids from laughing.

New Victorian alcohol laws recommended

Victoria should make it illegal for anyone other than a parent, guardian or spouse to supply alcohol to children in private settings, an inquiry has found.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Locust plagues could cost Australia billions

With spring heralding warmer weather, scientists say conditions are ripe for millions of locust eggs to hatch in parts of Australia's south-east.
Read more [ABC News Australia]

Speedster runs from Auckland court

A bold prisoner jumped the dock at Auckland District Court and made a bold bid for freedom, but was brought down by security guards in a nearby street.Konin Leigh, 23, was in court for a bail application hearing before Judge Greg...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

Cedric's death a blow to cancer research program

A Tasmanian devil whose fight for life raised hopes of wiping out the facial cancer scything through the species has died.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Police appeal for news of missing man

Police are still trying to piece together the movements of missing Wellington man Robert Logan after a huge search over the weekend failed to find any trace of him.Mr Logan, 51, was last seen a week ago and his car was found near...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]

New Zealand sharemarket rises further

The NZ sharemarket continued rising following Wednesday's surge as data from several countries eased worries about the sagging global economy.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Australian lawmakers reveal $9.7 B hole in pledges (AP)

AP - Australia's opposition Liberal Party had overstated national savings from their election promises by up to 10.6 billion Australian dollars ($9.7 billion), according to official figures released Wednesday by independent lawmakers who are likely to decide which political party forms the next government.
Read more [Yahoo World News]

Australian stocks set to open higher

The outlook for the Australian market on Thursday is positive, following strong performances on overseas markets overnight.
Read more [The Age: Australia National]

Couple fined for neglecting 14 sick cats

A Christchurch couple with so many cats that an SPCA inspector lost count after 30 have been convicted of not providing veterinary treatment for 14 that had to be put down.Graeme Thomas Smith and his wife, Gillian Mary Smith,...
Read more [New Zealand Herald]